Prelude to War — Christopher Nicole

Albania, 1939. Catherine Ames and three friends are on a cycling holiday in the mountains. Looking out across the Adriatic, they glimpse a fleet of Italian ships and suddenly find themselves in the middle of a full-scale invasion. Catherine somehow escapes, but Peter and Alan are killed and Roberta is badly wounded. An unknown American comes to their aid, promising to look after Roberta and persuading Catherine, for her own safety, to leave the country -- and to carry out an arms deal which would provide the small village of rebels with enough fire-power to offer serious resistance.

Clayton Andrews is a soldier of fortune driven to oppose Fascism wherever he finds it. He knows Catherine may lack the will to avenge her friends' deaths, but with the wounded Roberta effectively his hostage, Catherine has little choice other than to seek out Clay's contact, Sophie von Bernhardt. A woman who has lived life to the hilt in the past, and whose relationship with Andrews is far from straightforward, Sophie had thought to turn her back on her former existence. Still, Clay's offer of $50,000 is not easily ignored. Now, Catherine finds herself embroiled in a world she could never have imaged and can barely believe -- unaware that her every move is being watched ...